Feltham Marshalling
Yard

Feltham Marshalling Yard was
once one of the busiest in the country handling up to 7000 wagons per day.
Nowadays the area is a nature reserve on land still owned by Network rail
but some traces of its past remain if you look hard enough. The tunnel
pictured is still there and was located under one of two humps where
wagons would be pushed up at 2mph, uncoupled, chalked with their siding
destination and then rolled down the incline to be switched into their
correct location. Virtually all of the structures of Feltham Marshalling
Yard have been removed so it was a real surprise to find this still
existing in 2011 - it's a bit out of the way but if the proposed Airtrack
scheme goes ahead even this relic may not last much longer.

While pretty much every
other trace of Feltham yards 32 miles of track has been bulldozed or removed
there are a few clues scattered around. Either too small or insignificant
to be noticed or perhaps too heavy to bother moving I found a few relics
still there. Scroll down for more photos.

A little bit more on the history of the
yards:

The opening of Feltham Marshalling Yards
was more of an evolution than a ceremony on a specific date. Taking
traffic from a previous shed at Strawberry Hill the project was initiated
by the LSWR but was not fully complete until grouping. Key elements of the
yards included a 65ft turntable , a mechanical coaling plant and a engine
shed complete with a 50 tin overhead crane for assisting with repairs.
Once fully operational around 80 steam locomotives operated at the
location and it saw its first diesel shunters in 1954. The depot reduced
in importance as road travel took off and although there were plans for it
to continue after the demise of steam in 1967 the proposed diesel sheds
were never built.

Feltham Marshalling Yards were a target in
the Second World War. A land mine dropped at 3am one morning destroyed
around 150 wagons but the yard was once again operational just six hours
later. Elsewhere a bomb landed on the hump blowing the rails so high that
they went over the nearby signal box. The yards were key in moving
equipment destined for use in the D-Day landings by American and Canadian
servicemen. Tanks, fuel supplies and even bridge parts transited the yard
on their way to their coastal departure points.